KUALA LUMPUR - Datuk Seri Najib Razak must hasten reforms, starting with dismantling the lopsided “New Economic Policy” that dampens competition as the world will not wait for Malaysia to catch up, a popular Bloomberg columnist said today.
William Pesek said the real issue was Malaysia’s policies to raise its economic game amid growing competition from its Asian neighbours.
“The world won’t wait for Malaysia,” he said in an piece on The Ticker, Bloomberg’s commentary on economics, politics and the world.
Pesek urged Najib (picture) to take bold action now and declare an end to policies that were holding Malaysia back, adding that doing so “would cheer investors” who were growing increasingly sceptical of his pledge to reform.
“It’s high time for Prime Minister Najib Razak to change the story, to shift the focus toward reforms, not tabloid scandals. Announcing the end of affirmative-action policies that hurt Malaysia's competitiveness might be just the thing,” he said.
He pointed that the government’s “New Economic Policy” continued to favour the majority Malay community had outlived its usefulness after more than 40 years and urged Najib to remove this hurdle to economic growth.
“It limits investment, stifles competition and keeps the economy from becoming a meritocracy,” Pesek said.
He noted that China, India and Malaysia’s Southeast Asian neighbours Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam were evolving swiftly and would be able to outstrip their competition within a few years.
He further warned that developing economies needed to “watch their backs”.
He said Malaysia’s huge 5.8 per cent growth potential deserved attention as it stood to join the ranks of Asia’s top economies, but foreign investors were being increasingly sceptical that the country could live up to its promise with the Najib government being constantly distracted by other issues.
He listed Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recently-concluded sodomy trial; the religious tensions between Malaysia’s Muslim majority and its minority Christians; and “murder investigations involving high-ranking officials” as examples in his opinion piece.
He advised: “It’s time to take ‘CSI: Malaysia’ off the air. An unscripted bout of economic change could be just the thing.”
Malaysia’s other observers have been saying the same thing.
“The public is looking for leaders who are able to manage Malaysia through economic turmoil,” Bridget Welsh, a political science lecturer at Singapore Management University was quoted as saying this week by Bloomberg.
Najib must persuade Malaysia’s 28 million population they are the right choice to overhaul the country’s US$238 billion (RM749.75 billion) economy laden with economic policies that are seen to benefit only one race and which the World Bank has warned is holding back the country’s growth.
Worried local economists have warned Putrajaya that federal revenue was growing too slowly compared to its sovereign debt and urged him to quicken the pace of his economic reforms to claw back foreign investor support.
By Debra Chong
Anybody from the umno/bn block interested to comment? come on....
ReplyDeleteA country running by a bunch of monkeys from umno, for sure Malaysia is going to a devastated and Armageddon in our economy soon.
ReplyDeleteUMNO monkeys will eat all the banana and only left the skin for the poor rakyat and yet the kaki pengampu umno says bersyukurlah.
ReplyDeleteRakyat Malaysia perlulah meningkatkan kebolehan diri untuk menjadi lebih berdaya saing.
ReplyDeleteReformasi ekonomi di Malaysia amat diperlukan jika tidak mahu ditinggalkan di belakang bila dunia sudah maju ke hadapan.
ReplyDeleteM'sia banyak dikaitkan dengan skandal2 yang hanya memberi gambaran negatif terhadap negara ini. Sudah tiba masanya pemimpin negara bersikap lebih matang dan fokus kepada masalah2 yang lebih serius.
DeleteUMNO mesti dihancurkan jika Malaysia mahu terus maju terutama Sabah. UMNO adalah parti yang paling racist di Sabah walaupun kakitangan kerajaan di Sabah semua pun pilih kasih untuk satu bangsa saja. Bagaimana mahu maju jika bukan based on meritocracy?
ReplyDeleteSokong meritrokrasi, bukan diskriminasi!
DeletePeluang pekerjaan seharusnya dibuat secara adil dan tidak hanya kepada satu kaum atau agama saja. Ini akan membuatkan sesuatu bangsa itu terlalu selesa dan kualiti kerja pun menurun.
Deletesikap daya saing dan usaha yang tinggi perlu ada dalam diri rakyat untuk mereka lebih maju kehadapan.
ReplyDeleteUmno mahu memelayukan semua rakyat Sabah. Lain kali tiada lagi kaum2 macam dusun, bajau, brunei, sungei, pakistan, arab, suluk dan semua jadi melayu. Sedarlah
ReplyDeletesemua harus sentiasa berusaha untuk meningkatkan pencapaian.
ReplyDeleteDatuk Najib perlu memberikan tumpuan kepada kepentingan rakyat Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteopposition should at least help in building confidence among investors and not frighten them...
ReplyDeletePM kita pun tahu, UMMO atau bangsa Melayu bukan j pandai sangat mentadbir negara. Tapi kalau main politik, isu-isu agama, gila kuasa, batu api,penipu dan pemfitnah dia org hebat.Tapi saya akan katakan belum tentu juga ba kalau jumpa orang Sabah. Kau ingat orang KDM, Brunei,Bajau,Suluk,Bisaya,Org Sungei dan yang lain tidak pintar ka. Kalau Sabah sekarang diberi peluang memerintah sendiri..mgkn 10 Tahun dari sekarang lebih maju dari d orang disana.Tapi kami tolak c Datu Akjan kerana terlampau pintar. Pintar2 Bodoh.
ReplyDeleteAnon, kebijaksanaan mentadbir negara/negeri bukan terletak pada bangsa atau suku kaum..
ReplyDelete